Have you ever wondered what sound looks like? You may picture a graphical depiction, perhaps showing the frequency of a sound wave or the audio of a digital file, and you wouldn’t be wrong. However, thanks to NPR’s Skunk Bear, you can actually see a sound in its physical form.
Using the Schlieren Flow Visualization, a camera can capture distortions of air molecules. This is useful for visualizing heat, aerodynamics and, of course, sound. Sound is a pressure wave, travelling through space and changing the density of air molecules. Using the visualization technique, we can see such compression, emanating from a source and, in essence, see sound.
